The innovative Chicago entrepreneur Arthur J. Schmitt founded Amphenol, which he headed as CEO until 1964. The first products of the American Phenolic Corporation were sockets for radio tubes. Due to military orders during the Second World War, Amphenol was able to expand its business enormously and became the leading manufacturer of cable connections in the military sector.

The Frenchman Lucien Blanchet founded Air LB SA France in Blagny. The company manufactures interconnection products and pipe holder systems for aviation. The main customers are the French (Aérospatiale) and British (British Aircraft Corporation) aviation industries, which developed the Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde 101/102, or Concorde for short, in a joint project. Many of the connectors and pipe holders on board the supersonic passenger aircraft, which was operated from 1976 to 2003, come from Air LB.

Amphenol-Borg Electronics Corp. was formed at the end of the 1960s through a merger with George W. Borg Corp. In 1966, the company bought Heilbronn-based Tuchel-Kontakt GmbH.

Today, Amphenol Corporation is one of the world's largest suppliers of high-tech solutions for connectors, sensors and antennas, which are used in virtually all sectors of the electronics industry.

The German subsidiary Air LB GmbH Germany is founded in Cologne with the aim of providing the best possible support to the aerospace group Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW). VFW, formed in 1961 from the merger of Focke-Wulf and Weserflug, develops the first jet airliner designed and built in series in the Federal Republic of Germany, the VFW 614, in the mid-1960s. Its maiden flight takes place in 1971. Numerous technical innovations in this aircraft still form the basis for aircraft development today. Also on board: interconnection products and pipe holder systems from Air LB.

In 1985, the headquarters of the German company Amphenol-Air LB GmbH was relocated to Saarlouis, where it remains to this day.

The American Amphenol Corporation acquires the French company Air LB and its German subsidiary, Air LB GmbH. In less than five years, Amphenol-Air LB grows six times faster than the German economy. Even during the integration phase, the company is already one of the leading suppliers of connectors for the aviation industry—and is now the market leader for military connectors according to VG.

After more than 30 years at the helm, Managing Director Bernard Rimmelspacher is taking well-deserved retirement with impressive results. With record sales, he is handing over to his successor Nicole Siodlazeck, previously responsible for finance. She is supported by a strong management team: Dominique Gross (authorized signatory, sales manager), Fabrice Thil (operations manager), Rebecca Klein (quality management & IT), and Susanne Seeber (HR). Dirk Berger joined the team as head of finance in 2023. Together, they are shaping the start of a new chapter marked by change and further development.

We are starting with cabling at our Saarlouis site. What once began as small-batch production has now developed into a successful line of business. Our success is based not only on our expertise in connectors and their processing, but also on our certifications according to IPC/WHMA-A-620 and VG96927-2.

LEAN management is becoming part of our corporate culture. The aim is to make processes more efficient, avoid waste, and increase customer benefits. The focus is on continuous improvement—and above all on our employees, who are actively involved in the optimization process.

We are constantly evolving. At our Saarlouis site, we are expanding in all areas, modernizing our production with robots, increasing our storage capacity with a total of 23 high-bay warehouses, and creating space for a larger team and modern working environments with new office space.